A Short Life On This Side---A Chapter from a Book In Progress

In physical terms Dan had a very short life of 22 years, but
I have come to see that he still exists as an aware being and continues to grow
and learn. The way I see Dan now is very much alive, (anything but dead) in
another realm of existence. I’m thrilled to say that from his realm he can
communicate and stay very close to me.
Of course, I still miss him terribly. I can’t see him and it’s more than
obvious that he’s not here, but his essence was not buried with his remains and
that’s an important statement!

We bury or cremate the bodies of our loved ones and it is so
painful for us because we love the body that housed this person. We even think
of the body as this person. But did you ever consider that it was the personality
who looked out through the eyes of that body that you loved so much?

When you look at someone who has passed you know that the
essence that made him or her uniquely themself is no longer there. Often you
will hear people say, “She’s gone.” The physical body is lying right there in
front of them but they instinctually know that he or she has gone. What exactly
has gone? What is it that has left?

I believe that the spark of life that enters the body at
birth and exits the body at death is eternal and the essence of who we really
are. I believe that the reason we can let go of the body of our loved ones at
all is because we realize that essentially they are not there anymore. We
understand that what we loved is gone and that what remains behind is just an
empty shell. But where has it gone? I think that’s the question we ought to be
asking.

From the day after Danny passed, I felt his influence around
me. The more bereaved and painful my feelings, the more I felt his strong
presence accompanied by words of love and comfort. “It’s okay mom,” I’d hear. “I’m
okay mom. Don’t feel responsible please!” I’d hear these words and feel a tiny
bit better until I convinced myself, with a sinking heart, that I was just
talking to myself.

Still the thoughts came, especially when I was feeling the
deepest levels of despair and I was aware of this happening as early as the day
after Danny passed. Sometimes I was so flooded with thoughts that I grabbed my
computer and typed them out. I didn’t know if it really was Dan, or my own
subconscious, a real communication or a figment of my imagination, but if I was
willing to listen to the thoughts, they always comforted me.

If it wasn’t for the fact that by this time in my life I was
very familiar and comfortable sitting with mediums, I might have gone on making
the assumption that the comforting thoughts in my mind were merely my own way
of comforting myself. But on the
contrary, one week after Danny passed I sat with medium Glenn Dove and the
conversations and confirmations began to pour forth. Dan would say the very
same things through Glenn that I had been hearing directly.

Since Dan passed on July 1, 2008, I have made more than a
few appointments with mediums. I have had numerous private phone as well as
in-office sessions and have also attended many group sessions. I have been to
some of the big name mediums as well as some not so well known mediums, and I will
tell you this: When the medium is a true medium Dan comes through loud and
clear and he is always undeniably and unmistakably Dan. He’s not sad with one
medium and happy with the next. His story doesn’t change from medium to medium.
When he explains the events leading up to his passing, or what his transition
was like, consistently he has the same things to say and his recollections
match our own. He apologizes for the pain his passing has caused, for like so
many young people he was self-medicating and it went too far, and yet his sense
of humor always prevails and he refuses to dwell on the negative. The mediums
are often brought to laughter because he jokes and teases in his own inimitable
way.

I’ve really come to believe that Dan lives. He is not here
and he is not in his body but he exists, for the being coming to us couldn’t be
anyone else. So, although Danny had what we would all consider a short life, it
is still going on, in another realm, in another way. It is not over nor has he
been erased from the universe and that is very important. As the stories in
this book are told, I hope they will demonstrate to you the validity of my
son’s continued existence on the other side, for if Danny has gone on, then so
has your child and if communication is possible for Danny and me, then it is
possible for you too.